World of Consequences
by FlowerOwl
Summary: Tired of hiding away in Wakanda, Steve Rogers and the rest of his team decide that they have waited long enough for Tony to have calmed down. So they do what they have to do to get the chance to talk to him. Turns out that things might just have changed while they were gone.
1. Chapter 1

Despite Tony Stark's love for the spotlight, he was not an easy man to track down.

That was not new information to Steve, but it was the first time that he had had to deal with Tony's disappearance act and he had to admit that it was beginning to become quite annoying. Not only had the billionaire not answered the phone the hundreds of times that Steve had tried to contact him, he had also not answered the letter that Steve had sent him the second he had been able to let down his guard just a bit without risking the entire team getting caught by the team of agents that the Accords Council had sent after them. Of course, should the worst thing happen and the agents happen to find them, Steve knew that he would have to protect his own team, but he would prefer not having to use violence against people who had been vulnerable enough to be recruited by the Accords Council. He could easily imagine the kind of threats that had been issued towards the agents to make them go after Steve's team.

So despite how much Steve found himself missing Tony, he had resigned himself to the fact that it was best to stay hidden in Wakanda until the entire thing would blow over. Then he could go back, sort out the entire thing with Tony, and make everything go back to normal.

That was his plan. But then Tony crossed the line.

Going on TV to openly tell that he distanced himself from what the public had dubbed the Rogue Avengers was one thing. Steve had expected that. After all, Tony had to make sure that the Accords Council would not begin to bring up his relationship with Steve to question his ability to handle any future merger between the new Avengers - a team of mostly untrained children and civilians - and Steve's team.

Although they had been the ones to defend all the people on the planet from a situation where superheroes could be bossed around by people with agendas, Steve's team had been the one to be blamed for everything. The destruction of a tunnel in Bucharest that accidentally killed eight civilians as well as two members of the team sent to catch Bucky. The airport in Germany even though no one died. Hell, nearly all of the reporters had even tried to blame Wanda of all people for how the Hulk had gone on a rampage in Johannesburg, for assisting Ultron - completely ignoring Tony's blame in that -, and for the explosion in Lagos.

But Steve had been able to handle all of that, assuring Sam and Scott that they were doing the right thing, teaming up with Natasha to convince Clint that it would not be a good idea to go and try to shoot an arrow after Tony, even managing to calm down Wanda so that the red mist that would begin to twirl around her fingers at the mere mention of Tony's name would disappear.

But when one of the reporters, a woman named Christine Everhart, raised her hand. The second Tony nodded at her, she stood up, a glint in her eyes that made Steve shudder despite the pleasant temperature. Her question was long and unnecessarily convoluted, but from the gasp that it provoked from Scott, Steve knew that he had not misunderstood it. The reporter had had the gall to ask Tony whether or not the Rogue Avengers would be allowed back on the team, questioning Tony and his devotion to each other. Steve had just leaned back in the sofa, ready to see Tony tear her apart, when Tony went too far.

Looking directly into the camera, almost as if he knew Steve was watching, Tony answered after a brief pause that Steve knew meant that Tony had chosen his words carefully.

"What I think about the possibility of Mr. Rogers, Mr. Barton, and Miss Romanoff joining the Avengers once more as well as Mr. Lang and Mr. Wilson deciding to apply is irrelevant as the decision is not up to me. If they decide to sign the Accords, something I don't think is likely given the way the acted the last time we saw them," he paused, allowing the reporters gathered in the room to snicker at the expense of Steve's team, "and if they do decide to apply to join the Avengers, they will be evaluated by a panel. And although that panel consists of members of the Accords Council as well as members of the Avengers, I have decided that, given my past history with evaluating the intent of other superheroes, I would be unfit for that position. As for Miss Maximoff, I think the chance of her ever returning to the Avengers is practically non-existent as the government of Sokovia has already declared that were she ever to be found, she would be sentenced to life in prison, charged with aiding and abetting Ultron in his schemes that ultimately led to the destruction of Novi Grad as well as for the attack in Johannesburg, both attacks that led to hundreds of fatalities."

It felt like a punch to the gut. Rationally, Steve knew that Tony had to say all of that to retain his position in the Avengers, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt hearing the words come out of his mouth. And Wanda… it must have hurt the girl so much to have to listen to the lies, and although Steve knew that Tony had to repeat them, he didn't have to do it like that, throwing the unjust charging in Wanda's face every time he got the chance.

"And what if they were to be pardoned?" the reporter continued, clearly not intent on stopping just yet.

Tony raised his left eyebrow. "I don't think I understand what you mean."

"Say they were pardoned and would come back here tomorrow. Could we then expect you to help them to be accepted into the Avengers Programme again? Can we expect them to move back into the Avengers Compound anytime soon?"

Steve couldn't help the smile that's forming on his face. Now is the moment where Tony calmly but firmly would make sure that everyone knew that he and Steve were a team and that they would not leave each other behind.

But that didn't happen.

"I won't pretend to know everything about the current political climate, but I don't think that we can expect to see the 'Rogue Avengers', as they seem to be called now, back in America - or any of the other countries that have signed the Sokovia Accords - again anytime soon. And even if they did return, I doubt that the court cases that would be waiting for them would leave them with a lot of time on their hands." The reporter began to open her mouth again, but Tony cut her off. "And before you ask, for I know what you really meant: no, even if they were to return and to be cleared of all charges, I would still doubt that they would be able to move into the Compound again."

What? As much as he tried, Steve couldn't make sense of what Tony was saying. Surely, the Accords Council couldn't have told Tony not to allow them back into the compound. Steve might only have skimmed the first couple of pages of the Accords, but Tony had a small army of lawyers on his side; he would not have allowed such a thing to happen to him, to happen to them.

But still. Tony had always been vulnerable to manipulation, and if someone from the Council had been able to get close to him, Steve could easily imagine how Tony would not have picked up on the warning signs before it was too late.

It was not only Steve who was confused by Tony's statement. The moment the billionaire stopped talking, the reporters all started talking, speaking all at once.

"Mr. Stark, why wouldn't they be able to move back into the Avengers Compound?" one of the reporters yelled, and Steve was relieved to see it was no longer the blonde woman who was possibly named Christine.

Tony pointed at the reporter in question to indicate whose question he was answering. "Simple. Although its name might have led you to think otherwise, the Avengers Compound is still owned by Stark Industries. As such, we can't just let people move in as we like, they have to pay for their stay there. And given how the Compound has been outfitted with the very latest security technology, a room in the Compound is quite expensive - not even all of the current Avengers have been able to afford it. And before you ask," Tony pointed at a reporter towards the back of the room who had just raised their hand, "yes, the students who have received a scholarship and have chosen to participate in the Future Brains of Technology Programme are housed in the Compound due to the fact that they come from all over the globe and with the labs being located in the Compound. And of course the Rogue Avengers are welcome to apply to the programme, but since they are not teenage geniuses, I doubt that will lead to anything."

"But you can pay for them, can't you?" the reporter Tony had silenced earlier could seemingly not wait anymore.

Even someone who hadn't been dating Tony, hell, even someone who hadn't spent years living in the same building as Tony, would have been able to see Tony's annoyance. And Tony was not the only one to glare at the reporter. Almost every person in the room turned to stare at the man who had spoken without permission.

Steve had to admire Tony. He really knew how to make everyone in a room root for him.

"I think," Tony said, shifting his weight onto his right leg, "that the last couple of months have shown that we need to have a chain of command when it comes to the Avengers. That means that I can no longer justify paying for other members of the Avengers just because I can, as that will create an imbalance of power. And to tell you the truth, even if that wasn't the case, even if I could justify acting that way, I don't think I would want to pay for terrorists-"

The screen went black and Steve looked up to see Natasha glaring at it, a look of pure rage in her eyes. She held the remote control to the TV in her hand and her knuckles were turning white.

"Nat…?"

She noticed Steve watching her, and just a second later, the look in her eyes was gone. If it had even been there at all. Instead, she looked like she was solving a complicated math equitation, lightly stroking her chin as she looked over at the TV.

Looking around the room, Steve could see that it seemed that he was the one who was the calmest. Despite both Sam and Scott having tried to stay in the background ever since they had arrived in Wakanda, not participating in the discussions about what to do next, they were both standing in the archway, looking at each other with a concerned look in their eyes. They didn't say anything, but Steve knew Sam well enough to tell when he was worried about something.

Clint, meanwhile, stared at the TV like he had to fight the urge to go and get his bow and shoot an arrow at the screen. Steve could only hope that he would be able to win that fight as he doubted T'Challa would appreciate them destroying yet another device in his home. Or rather, his sister would not appreciate it. The first time it had happened, T'Challa's sister, Shuri, had dragged Steve aside and told him that she would not tolerate them destroying anything while they stayed in Wakanda. When Steve had tried to explain to her that the toaster would still be intact of anyone had bothered to show Clint how to use it when he had asked for an instruction, she had just rolled her eyes at him before walking away, muttering something under her breath about how she would have preferred for them to not be in the palace at all. Steve had chosen not to tell T'Challa about his sister's rudeness and he would prefer for it to remain that way. So hopefully, Clint would not do anything that could give Shuri an excuse to complain about them again.

Next to Clint, Wanda was sitting in a mist of red energy. It whirled around her, constantly growing larger, and although Steve understood how getting called a terrorist would make Wanda lose control of her powers he needed her to get them under control before she could accidentally hurt herself.

"Wanda," he said soothingly, moving a bit closer to the girl while still avoiding making contact with the mist, "Wanda I know that it hurts, but I want you to remember that this is why we fought against the Accords and why we are still fighting against them: to make sure that they can't control superheroes like they are doing right now with Tony. And I know that it hurts to hear him call you a terrorist, but I want you to remember that it was not him, it was the Accords Council."

Steve smiled as his little talk had the desired effect. The red mist around Wanda disappeared and the rest of his team stopped glaring at the TV to instead look at him.

"Steve, what are you even talking about right now?" Sam asked after a couple of seconds of complete silence.

Gesturing towards the TV behind him, Steve did his best to make his voice sound confident, like how Captain America had sounded when he had been used to convince people to support the army with their money. "I know that this hurts, but we have to understand that that is what the Accords Council want; to split us. Why else would they have made Tony say these things?"

The entire room went silent after that. Steve had to congratulate himself. He might not be Tony, might not be the best at delivering underhand insults, but if there was one thing he was good at it was imbuing the troops with courage and patience.

"Wait," Natasha talked slowly, her eyebrows knitted together, "you think that someone from the Accords Council ordered Tony to say these things?"

"Yes, of course I do." given Natasha's past of being a spy, Steve had just assumed that she would also be able to tell that it was not Tony who had wanted to say those things, but he supposed that perhaps the fact that he and Tony were dating meant that he knew the billionaire just a little bit better than the rest of his team did.

But Natasha just shook her head at him. "Steve, that is not how the Accords work. At all. They can't force Tony to say anything he doesn't want to say."

"Of course they can, they can just threaten to lock him up in the Raft if he doesn't comply."

"Steve," Sam asked, his voice suddenly shaky, "please tell me that you did read the Accords before you decided to fight against them. Please tell me that you read each and every page before you decided to begin fighting Tony as wells as the rest of the world."

"There was no need to do that. It was so obvious that it was only an attempt to take our freedom away from us, to ensure that we would not be able to help when we were needed," Steve said, having to fight his annoyance from seeping into his voice. It was not that difficult to grasp for them was it?

But apparently his answer didn't satisfy Sam at all. Steve could hear how Scott and Sam began to whisper amongst themselves before throwing him one last look and leaving the room together.

That left only Natasha, Clint, and Wanda in the room with him. Although it was mean to think, Steve knew that Sam and Scott would have left the room sooner or later. That was just how they had been the entire time while they had been hiding in Wakanda, constantly distancing themselves from the rest of the team. And they had not known Tony at all so perhaps it was for the better that they had left the room as it allowed the rest of them to talk freely.

"Listen," Clint said the moment Sam and Scott were out of earshot, "Tony was never in danger of ending up in the Raft." He reached out to put an arm around Wanda while mentioning the Raft to make sure she was okay and not about to mentally travel back to the little cell she had been in with a collar around her neck. "Haven't you watched the news - he is parading around back home, being all buddy-buddy with the Accords Council-"

"Because he has to-"

"No, Steve, because he wanted to. Face it; Stark has decided that we are no longer useful to him. He has kicked us out, not only from the US but also from our home."

"Tony wouldn't do that. I know he wouldn't." but Steve had to admit to it would explain a lot about how Tony had been acting during his recent interviews about the Accords. But he couldn't have. No.

"Of course he would." They all turned towards Wanda, surprised by her comment. Apart from asking for necessities Wanda had barely said anything to anyone ever since they had arrived in Wakanda. No, when Steve thought back, he realised that she had actually barely said anything since Vision had tried to imprison her in the Compound. "Stark doesn't think of anyone but himself. We were always just pawns in his game."

Steve had to bite his tongue not to defend Tony. Yes, he might have acted like an asshole, but Steve knew that Tony was just hurt, and that he would revert back to his normal self once he got his team back. But to be fair, Tony had crossed the line and was now hurting Wanda, who was after all still a child, someone who could not defend herself and Steve could see why that would anger Wanda.

"Wanda, I know you are hurt, but I promise you that I can fix this. I just need to talk with Tony, and then everything will go back to how it used to be."

Natasha looked at him with a look Steve didn't know how to interpret. "Are you sure you can do that?"

"I know I can."

It was impossible to hide from Natasha when she had decided to find you. That was true even for Tony. Only a couple of days after Steve had realised that he would have to go and talk to Tony as soon as possible, Natasha walked over to him while he was trying to figure out how to toast his slice of bread without a working toaster. Keeping her voice low due to the risk of Shuri having installed cameras in the room after the destruction of the toaster, she informed him about where they could find Tony.

A charity ball hosted at Avengers Tower. Everyone rich and famous would attend if nothing else then to better their image. Before everything had gone wrong with the Accords, Steve had been to a couple of them with Tony. It had been uncomfortable, way to many eyes on him, and he had only stayed so that Tony would get the opportunity to enjoy how everyone admired him. With how much Tony had loved being the centre of attention, Steve should have been able to guess that they could find him there.

Since the ball would take place that very evening, both Steve and Natasha agreed that they did not have time to persuade T'Challa to lend them a jet, not if they wanted to arrive in time. So after having gone to tell Clint and Wanda about the plan, unanimously agreeing that since Scott and Sam did not know Tony like them, it was better to let them stay behind in Wakanda than bringing them with them to the ball and risk all of them getting caught, they set their plan in motion.

It was surprisingly easy for them to sneak into the hangar and for Natasha to hack her way into the jet they had decided was small enough so that no one would miss it until they got back. In fact, Steve didn't even see a single guard and couldn't help but think that T'Challa should really get some better security. Especially considering how advanced the Wakandan technology was. It was this kind of carelessness that had enabled Tony to create Ultron in the first place and Steve couldn't believe that no one had learnt anything from that incident. But the rest of his team seemed happy that their plan had went without a hitch and so Steve kept his worries to himself.

With the plane being able to fly on its own with minimal input from the pilot, most of the trip was spent trying to make themselves look like the sort of people who would attend a charity ball. Since Steve had not thought he would ever have to go to that sort of event in the foreseeable future, he had not exactly asked T'Challa for any sort of formal wear, and it seemed that both Clint and Wanda were in the same situation. But it turned out that Natasha, always the good friend and seasoned spy, had them covered. As she was showing them all of the clothes that she had somehow managed to fit into a tiny suitcase, Steve couldn't help but frown a bit. It was nowhere near the quality of the clothes that Steve had worn when he had attended balls and banquets with Tony. But it was something and soon they would be home.

That was why Steve walked into the Avengers Tower in a suit that was slightly too small, hindering his movement and with a scratchy bowtie around his neck. From the way that Wanda was constantly having to adjust the sleeves of her gown to avoid them unfolding and covering her hands and Clint kept folding down the collar of his shirt to keep it from irritating his neck, they seemed to have the same problem as him. Nothing really fit them.

Well, that was why they had to go and talk to Tony, so that they could go back, could wear their old clothes and gear again, to make the Accords Council see sense. The shield that Steve had received from Shuri was fine, but it was nowhere near the standard of his old shield. Not with the opening mechanism that was supposed to make the shield unfold to its full size having an unfortunate habit of getting stuck, and he could not wait to get his old shield back.

And now they only needed to find Tony.

Maybe it was more efficient to split up and search for the billionaire, but since they were still hunted by the Accords Council it did not seem smart to leave any member of the tam out of sight and risk one of them getting caught alone without a way to contact the rest of the team and inform them of the danger. So instead, they stayed together, walking up on the balcony overlooking the room to get a better view. From there, it didn't take long before Steve spotted Tony in the crowd.

The billionaire was standing with his back turned towards them, chatting with a woman Steve could not recognise. And although she looked like the kind of woman Tony would once have spent the entire evening flirting with, slender, glamourous, and wearing a much too revealing dress, it didn't look like Tony and her were there together judging by the distance between them. Steve took that as a good sign. He had not expected Tony to stay faithful while Steve and the rest of the team had had to stay hidden in Wakanda, leaving him all alone to deal with the Accords Council. At least that was something that Tony had not gone back to his old ways of flirting with each and every person in the room.

He did however recognise the man standing next to Tony even if it was only because Steve only knew one person who would wear such a dramatic red cape. The wizard, Stephen Strange, the guy who called himself Sorcerer Supreme. Steve didn't like the title, finding it way too conceited. But then again, Tony had always had some issues in that regard as well, so perhaps he didn't mind.

"There he is," Natasha whispered next to him, pointing towards the spot where Steve had already spotted Tony.

"So what is the plan of attack?" Clint asked, leaning towards the railing and gesturing towards Tony. "Are we just going to go up to him and tell him to stop acting like a five-year-old?"

Next to him, Wanda automatically raised her hands and Steve could see how her magic was already appearing as small red sparks in the air around them. They weren't so big that anyone who did not know to look for them would spot them, but Steve felt like he should say something before the situation got out of control.

So he shook his head at Clint. "No. You guys go and wait over there," he pointed towards a vacant corner, "I'll go and ask Tony to meet with us there and then we can talk without anyone noticing us being there."

He looked over at Natasha, waiting for her approval of the plan. After a minute of her glancing around the room, trying to come up with a better idea, she nodded. "Yes."

"And perhaps I should be the one to do the talking, you know, since I might have the best chances out of any of us to bring him to his senses?" Steve suggested, being careful not to let his eagerness to get the chance to talk to Tony show.

"Perhaps." Clint shrugged. "But if he won't listen, I vote that we knock some sense into him. And by 'we' I mean 'I'. That asshole kept me from seeing my family, and unless he gives us a really good apology for his mistakes, I am going to get revenge."

At the word 'revenge', Wanda nodded. "Perhaps. But I know that I can't forgive him. He got my family killed and no matter the apology that is unforgivable." crimson mist began to twirl around her hands, making Steve relieved that the sleeves of Wanda's dress were so long as they covered up most the magic.

"Okay, I know that you are pissed at Tony, and trust me, I understand," Steve began, holding up his hands to calm them, "but right now, the most important thing is to make sure the team stays together, and despite all of his mistakes, Tony is a part of it. We can't just kick him out. Clint, I know that you angry, but I am sure that Tony didn't consider that you had no way to contact your family. And Wanda… I can't say anything to make the fact that Tony's weapons killed your family any better and I can't apologise for him creating Ultron, but I know that he regrets what he has done. So please, just let me handle this, then he can apologise later."

A few tense seconds passed before both Wanda and Clint nodded with a sigh.

"Okay, we will do as you say," Clint said and Wanda nodded, the mist around her hands dissolving.

Meanwhile, Natasha just looked at Steve like she was surprised by what he was saying, something that made Steve feel a little bit insulted. Just because he loved Tony, it didn't mean that he could not see the man's mistakes and faults.

But at least his little speech had the desired effect and his team walked over to the corner without any more objections. Taking a deep breath to ready himself, Steve walked over to the opposite set of stairs so that Tony would not see him together with the others.

Luckily, Tony had not moved too much since they had spotted him. But the pretty woman, Steve had seen him talking to, had and now Tony was left with the wizard. From what little Steve knew about Stephen Strange, a conversation with the wizard was the last thing he would enjoy, but it didn't look like Tony was trying to get away from the conversation. While Steve watched, Tony laughed at something Strange had said, leaning closer to him to place a hand on his arm while Strange smiled at him. For some reason, Steve felt how the little gesture made him want to go over and ask Strange to meet him in the alley for a fight. But he knew better, knew that the last thing he needed right now was to lose sight of Tony.

Instead, he walked over to them, waving at Tony the second he saw the billionaire spot him.

"Tony," he greeted.

"Rogers," Tony said and Steve was surprised by the iciness of the word. It was so unlike the way Tony would usually smile while calling Steve 'Cap' with a playful smirk on his face.

Strange, meanwhile, didn't say anything at all, only fixing Steve with a glare that almost made Steve take a step back. But he didn't. He had come too far to let some asshole who was trying to manipulate Tony stop him.

Motioning towards the corner where the rest of his team was hopefully waiting, Steve tried to smile at Tony. "Can I talk with you? In private?"

Strange took a step forwards, opening is mouth, no doubt to stop Tony from leaving, but Tony just placed his hand in the wizard's arm, making Strange immediately stop and look back at him.

"It's fine, Stephen, I'll go just go and talk with Steve. I'll be back in just a moment."

Steve didn't like the way that the Wizard had seemingly demanded for Tony to explain where he would go and how long he would be gone each time he would try to leave his side. Everything about it was just plain wrong, and Steve couldn't figure out what kind of threat Strange had given Tony to make it that way. But Steve knew that when he would find out the reason, he would solve the problem for Tony. But first, he had to get them both away from the wizard, so he began to lead Tony through the room towards the rest of the team. Not only did being with the rest of the team mean that Strange would be unable to overhear their conversation, they would also have backup if Strange decided to attack.

"You know," Tony said while they manoeuvred around a group of men in designer suits, "when Shuri told me that you had stolen a jet, I thought that you would at least be smart enough to not immediately go here. Seems like I overestimated you."

Steve frowned. "What do you mean? No one saw us when we borrowed the jet."

That just led to a snort from Tony. "Please, don't try to make your crime seem less serious. You decided to hack your way into a jet, a piece of technology that belonged to the royal family of Wakanda, and you took off with it without having gotten permission to do so from anyone. That means that you did indeed steal it. And don't think that just because _you_ didn't see anything, it means that no one saw you."

"What do you mean? Natasha said that there weren't any security cameras anywhere near the hangar."

Tony just rolled his eyes. "Of course she did that. Listen, right now, you are insulting Shuri's intelligence. She invented that jet and as such it is among the fastest in the world. Did you really think that she would just allow it to be placed in some hangar without any kind of tracking device in it? Because I can assure you that if I seem like I care about keeping track of where my inventions are, Shuri is obsessed. She had outfitted that jet with the best kind of security measures in the world, and the second Natasha tried to hack her way into it, it sent a message to her."

"But then why-"

"Why was Natasha able to get into the jet and let you take off with it? Easy, Shuri knew you well enough to know that your next idea would be to attempt to tear the jet apart to get into it. And she preferred for that not to happen so she opened the door for you. Or at least that was what she told me when she informed me that you had taken it and were going to New York, but really, I think that she also wanted you guys to leave. And I can't say I blame her for that."

"Tony." Steve couldn't understand why Tony was being so mean. Steve was here, Tony wasn't being interviewed anymore and there couldn't be any members of the Accords Council nearby, Steve would have noticed that. But then he saw the way that Strange was looking at them, the anger in his eyes barely hidden and he understood what was going on. Of course Tony had to pretend to be angry when he was so close to the wizard. God, Steve couldn't help but feel bad for not having gotten there sooner. "Tony, it is okay, I am here now."

Tony shot him a look of both annoyance and confusion. "What are you even talking about now, Rogers?"

They made their way around a dancing couple and Steve spotted Natasha standing with her back to them right behind the couple. And next to her, he could see Wanda and Clint pretending to have a casual conversation. Relieved that he had managed to get Tony out of Strange's grasp and over to the team, he called out, "Nat!"

The three of them turned around, Wanda's expression instantly turning into a sneer when she saw Tony standing next to Steve. Steve couldn't really blame her for her reaction, she was after all allowed to take her time to grieve over the loss of her family, but he hoped that her feelings for Tony would not interfere if they needed her help should Strange decide to attack.

"Steve," Natasha replied, glancing over at Tony with a neutral expression, "Tony."

"I should have known," Tony said with a sigh, "of course the little group of criminals would not go anywhere without each other."

"Tony! We are here to save you, there is no need to be afraid anymore," Steve said.

"Correction: we are here to make you stop acting like a spoiled little five-year-old who just got told that they can't play with their favourite toy anymore." Clint interrupted, crossing his arms in front of his chest. When Steve sent him a look telling him to back off, he just shrugged. "What? I tried to let you do the talking, but I am not here to save Stark. I am here to knock some sense into him."

Tony snorted. "Rogers, I have no clue what you are talking about. I am not in danger, I mean unless you count the risk of you idiots somehow roping me into whatever criminal scheme you are planning right now. And, Barton, I need more information, because frankly I have no idea about what you are talking about when you say that I act like a five-year-old. Are you talking about how I have spent the last three months negotiating with the Accords Council, something you didn't even consider doing before running off to Wakanda? Are you talking about how I managed to salvage the otherwise completely ruined public image of the Avengers? Are you talking about how I have worked together with Shuri to create a better way to protect the Earth from any future invasions from space? Please clarify for me what you are talking about."

"I'm talking about how you have turned the public against us! You blamed everything on us, kicked us out of our home, and you even had the audacity to turn my own wife against me! Don't even try to lie to me about how you don't know what I am talking about, Stark! You know very well that she hasn't allowed me to see my children, not even letting me talk with them!"

"Barton, could you please stop speaking about things you don't understand," Tony said with a sigh that didn't even come close to sounding sincere, "I haven't turned the public against you, you did that all on your own when you decided to spit in the face of the world when it demanded for you not to just barge into every fight all the time with no clue about what was going on and then just leave a trail of dead civilians and destroyed lives behind you as you proclaimed yourself to be heroes. I never kicked you of your home. You were the ones who decided to flee to Wakanda the second there would be consequences for you, you were the ones who became criminals, and the Council as well as myself can't allow criminals into the Avengers Compound. As for Laura, I do understand it if she doesn't want to talk to you ever again. Did you even spare a thought for your family before you left? Because do you know what happened when footage from the airport got out? Because I will tell you what happened: angry people, people who wanted to hurt you, tracked down your family. And do you know how they were able to do that? They found your family because our super-secret spy here" Tony nodded at Natasha whose expression darkened, "had leaked all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files, making their location public knowledge. I barely had time to get them out of there and to safety in the Compound. Laura didn't want to see you because you had just abandoned her and the children, so don't even think about blaming me for your mistakes."

Steve could already see how the situation was spiralling out of control and he tried to break it up. But before he had the chance to do so, Wanda joined the discussion.

Pointing at Tony, the young girl was practically shaking with anger. "Don't pretend like you care about his family when we all know that you only did it for the publicity. You are a monster and a murderer."

"That's rich coming from someone who willingly and knowingly joined HYDRA, someone who helped Ultron and only stopped when she found out that he wanted to kill her and her brother together with everyone else on Earth."

From the way that the red tendrils of magic was beginning to gather around Wanda's hands, barely hidden by her sleeves, Steve knew that he had to act quickly. Stepping in front of the rest of his team, he held his hands up to calm Tony. "Tony calm down, I know that you are scared, but we are here. If the wizard guy should decide to attack it will be five against one. You won't be alone."

"The wizard guy," Tony repeated, "wait, do you seriously think that Stephen somehow has trapped me or something? Because that is too stupid to believe even for you."

"Wait, _is_ that what you think, Steve?" Natasha suddenly asked, her voice sounding just as confused as Tony's

"You didn't see the way Strange acted, constantly grapping Tony's arm and demanding to know where Tony was going and when he would be back." Steve focused on Tony once more. He couldn't see any signs of mind control, but if Strange had some sort of way to control the billionaire that wasn't visible like when Clint had been possessed by Loki, there was no way to tell if there was more than just threats keeping Tony trapped with Strange. "Tony, if he knows something about you, I promise that we can take care of it. And if you are under mind control, we can take you to Wakanda. Shuri has been treating Bucky with this machine that can help with that sort of things."

"Yeah, I think I would already know about that, considering it is my machine that is being used to treat Barnes."

That was a surprise and for a second, Steve forgot all about the mission to instead focus on the fact that Tony was helping Bucky. "What?"

"Yeah, after having had a couple of days to think things through, I realised that I wasn't angry at him. He had not been himself when he killed my parents, and he had not had the gall to try to pretend that he didn't know the truth about how they died while he used my money to finance his own little search party for their murderer. So when Shuri reached out and asked if she could use B.A.R.F to treat him, I saw no reason to say no."

That made Steve go silent. He had spent quite some time in Wakanda wondering about how he could make Tony understand that Bucky was innocent, that Bucky had not killed Tony's parents. Although he wanted to go back to Tony and knew that he would be able to forgive Tony for having attacked Bucky, Steve would never have risked Bucky's safety by bringing him close to Tony before Steve had had a chance to make the billionaire see reason. But it seemed that Tony had come to that realisation all on his own. Steve just hoped that it was a sign that no matter what kind of spell Tony was under, there was still a bit of Tony left.

"Tony, that is amazing!" Steve stepped forward to hug the billionaire, but Tony immediately took a step back, bringing his right arm up in front of his chest. The look on his face was a look of pure horror, eyes wide, face pale, and his left hand twitching slightly. It felt like a punch in the gut to see the kind of effect Strange's spell had had on Tony, but Steve tried to not let it show. He had to be the strong one now, for Tony's sake. "Tony, just tell us everything you know about what kind of spell Strange has used on you. Then we can figure out a way to get rid of it."

Tony was as pale as snow and Steve could see how he was still shaking slightly, but he still managed to force out a sarcastic laugh. "So that is what you think. You think that I am only here with Stephen because he is controlling me. Is that really the only reason you can come up with?"

A sense of dread settled in Steve's stomach. Somewhere deep down, he had an idea of what the answer was, but it was overshadowed by the voice telling him that he had to make sure that the spell would not cause Tony to hurt himself.

"What are you talking about Stark?" Clint sneered. "We don't care about why you are here with Stephen, we only care about why you are acting like an ass."

"Funny, because it seems like Rogers cares a lot about why I am here with Stephen. Perhaps you should actually have discussed your reasons for leaving the safety that Wakanda offered to you. But then again, I know it would be weird for you, Rogers, to actually tell your teammates the truth."

Steve winced at the dig. He had thought that Tony had forgiven him. He had agreed to help Bucky after all. How could he forgive Bucky but not Steve? It was Bucky he had blamed for his parents' death, not Steve, so why was he still angry?

"Tony-"

But Tony cut him off with a wave of his hand. "But since you are so interested in why I am here with Stephen, I guess I will tell you - maybe then you will finally leave me alone, although that might be too much to hope for. Stephen and I are here on a date."

Steve felt like Tony had just punched while wearing the Iron Man suit. From the little gasps he could hear behind him, even Wanda seemed surprised that Strange would sink so low to make Tony believe they were a couple.

"Tony, I know that this is scary, but we have to get you back home to Wakanda. They will help you take care of the magic Strange has planted in your brain."

Tony sighed in frustration and was about to say something, no doubt to deny again. But Wanda interrupted before he had the chance.

"Stark isn't being controlled by Strange. He is just an asshole."

"What?" it didn't make sense. Why was Tony acting this way if he wasn't being controlled? Steve had made sure that Tony knew that, should Strange attack, they would defend him.

But Wanda just scoffed. "I only sense a little bit of magic in him, nowhere near enough for him to be under mind control. Unlike Clint, Stark has no excuse for the way he is acting."

"Maximoff, I never thought I would say this, but thank you!" Tony exclaimed, clapping his hands. "Now that we have established that, unlike the Scarlet Witch here, Stephen would not try to rob me of my free will, will you kindly get out of my life again? I was beginning to enjoy the peace that came with not having you around."

"Don't talk about Wanda that way!" Clint growled, taking a step forwards to stand next to Steve. "You have no right to act all high and mighty after all the shit you have put us through!"

Tony let out a sarcastic laugh. "What exactly are you referring to?"

"You put us in prison, you put that collar around my neck that took my powers away from me!" Wanda sneered.

Steve turned around to calm her, but before he had the chance, Tony began talking again. Steve loved the man, but he would have liked it if Tony would be able to think about the consequences of his actions sometimes instead of just doing as he saw fit all the time. If that had been the case, they could have avoided so many problems.

"No, I didn't. You broke the law and got punished for it."

Before Wanda had time to do anything - and from the look on her face, that something would have involved using her magic - Natasha stepped in front of her and smiled at Tony.

"Tony, I know that we made mistakes, but you are overreacting here." Natasha's voice was sweet and Steve felt how it even had a calming effect on him, his heartbeat instantly slowing down a bit.

"Really? How so?" Tony said.

Mentally, Steve let out a sigh of relief. Finally Tony was beginning to understand that he was going too far.

"First of all," Natasha began, "you turned the public against us, you kicked us out of our home, you took Steve's shield, and you are still not willing to apologise despite the fact that we have risked everything to come here and save you."

There was a moment of silence before Tony began speaking.

"Are you done? Because that was a lot of shit even for you. I didn't turn the public against you, you did that by showing them that superheroes were not to be trusted and that we would not agree to be held responsible for our actions. Do you have any idea how hard it was to salvage the Avenges' image after the reports on Maximoff's past, her involvement in the Ultron-disaster, you two," he pointed at Steve and Natasha, "deciding to leak all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files despite that ending up getting most of the agents who were active at that time killed, Roger's little fight with the police, the collapsed tunnel, the fight at the airport, and you guys fleeing began to come out?" Tony didn't even give them a chance to answer before he continued. "No, of course you don't. You left me to deal with the aftermath of everything like you always do. As for me kicking you out of your home… well, you were the one who fled to Wakanda, and the Avengers Compound is meant only for Avengers and the people involved in the Future Brains of Technology Programme. Since you are not Avengers anymore due to you having refused to sign the Accords and being terrorists, the Compound is not your home anymore-"

"What about the tower?" Steve interrupted, hoping that he could make Tony see the truth about the situation.

From the way that Tony knitted his brows together, it had not been a good idea to cut him off. "What tower?"

"This tower," Steve made a vague gesture towards the ceiling, "the Avengers Tower."

"This isn't the Avenger's Tower anymore," Tony said, shaking his head at them.

"Stark, you are being petty now-" Clint began.

But he was cut off by Tony. "No, you know what, I can't believe that you four have the gall to come in here, to drag me away from Stephen, and then try to guilt me into letting you back into my lives so that you can have almost unlimited funds again. I can't believe that you thought that I would welcome you, that I would give Rogers his shield back - a shield that was made by my father, a shield that legally belongs to me - after he almost killed me with it!" Steve winced from the reminder of what had happened between him, Bucky, and Tony in Siberia, but it did not stop Tony. "The Avengers Tower doesn't exist anymore! I learnt that I can't just let the Avengers Initiative take over my entire life once again, and therefore this tower is now named Stark Tower again just like it should have been the entire time! And then you topped it all off by attempting to convince me that you were here to protect me like I haven't spent months wondering how I can protect myself from you, should you ever return! You tried to tell me that you were my team, but here is what I have realised what you were gone: we aren't a team and we never were!"

As much as it hurt to hear Tony proclaim that he never saw them as a team, at least his rant provided Steve with the answer as to why Tony was so angry.

He reached out to place his hands on Tony's shoulders, hoping to show how sincere he was, but the billionaire just took a step backwards, fixing him with a cold stare.

Well, then he would just have to convince him with words. "Tony, I get it now."

"Somehow I really doubt that," Tony whispered, keeping his voice so low that it might have seemed like it was unintentional that Steve heard him to the rest of the team, but still loud enough so that Steve was sure to hear it.

But Steve would not let that stop him. "I do. I know it hurt you when I left with Bucky, but I had to get him away from you. I don't blame you for it, but you have to admit that you were not being rational when you were attacking him; we both knew that he had been controlled by HYDRA. But I promise you that didn't mean that I chose Bucky over you."

Tony was silent for so long that it felt like the background noise from the other guests chatting, laughing, and dancing grew in intensity until it was the only thing that Steve could focus on.

Then Tony began to laugh, no trace of humour in the sound. It was so cold and harsh that Steve couldn't help but think of the icy water seeping into the plane all those years ago.

"You really think that I am angry at you because I thought that you were choosing Bucky over me? Rogers, that is so incredibly stupid even for you. While I am angry that you left me with two broken ribs in a powerless suit in Siberia and that I had to wait there for over two hours, not knowing whether I would live or die, until Vision came to get me, that is not what I am the most angry about. No, what I am angry about, Rogers," Tony stepped closer and Steve had to fight the instinct to take a step back, "is that I worked with you for years, I thought that you loved me, and then I found out that you knew the truth about my parents' murderer. You knew and you didn't tell me. Zemo showed me the footage of it, and you still didn't step in between me and the video to tell me. You just let me watch my parents get murdered. It never crossed you mind to do the me the favour of sparing me from seeing a man not even standing ten metres away from me beat my father to death and then strangle my mum. _That_ I why I will never be able to forgive you. But I will still do you one last favour, I will let you leave this place, I won't call the guards on you, and I won't tell them that you were ever here. But in return you have to leave right now. You are not welcome and you are keeping me away from my boyfriend, so if you will let me leave now-"

"Wait, your boyfriend?" Steve asked. He had heard the words, but he couldn't understand the meaning of them. Tony couldn't- Tony hadn't.

"Yes, Rogers. My boyfriend It has been minutes since I told you I was here with a date, I thought you would be able to remember that." Tony's tone had gone steadily lower through his entire rant and by now, it hurt Steve to just listen to all the anger in Tony's voice.

"But-but," Steve said, unable to form a coherent sentence.

Tony raised his eyebrows. "But what, Rogers? I saw my parents get murdered, found out that you knew but had decided to stay silent so that I would still fund your search for their murderer, and then you left me in Siberia to go on the run. Did you honestly think that we were still together after all that? Because we are not. I started seeing a therapist after the entire mess about the Accords, and she made me realise how unhealthy our relationship was - how unhealthy my relationship to all of you were -" he looked at first Natasha, then Clint, and then at last Wanda, "and how I had to change the way I acted around you. I had let you walk all over me, let you use my resources without question, and took all the blame for everything that went wrong in your lives without ever stopping to question whether or not you deserved any of it because I was too blinded by the thought that if I just indulged your every wish, you might actually begin to like me, and we might become friends. And once I understood that that mind-set was not healthy for me, I saw that I needed to form other and healthier relationships and that I had neglected the people who meant the most to me. So I worked on that and met Stephen in the process."

Tony stared at them, but there wasn't any anger left in his eyes anymore. Tony just looked incredibly tired, and Steve knew that it was because of the things, the lies, that Strange guy had told Tony about everything, but most of all about Steve.

The realisation made Steve regain his ability to speak.

"Tony, you don't mean any of this. Please, just listen to me, I love you."

Tony blinked. "No, you don't. You loved how I made you feel, how everyone would come over to talk with you when we went anywhere together. You loved the money and the luxury. Maybe you loved the link to your past I represented by being Howard's son and Peggy's godson, I can't say that for sure. But what I know is that you never loved me for me. If you did, you would have trusted me when I told you that I knew what to do about the Accords, you would have trusted me to be able to handle the truth of my parents death, you wouldn't have dropped my father's shield like it meant nothing to you at all, you wouldn't have left me alone in Siberia. And you for sure would not have sent me that awful apology letter if it can even be called an apology. I see that now, and I want nothing to do with you ever again."

"Tony…"

"Goodbye, Rogers." Tony turned around and began to walk away.

But before he had the chance to get even a metre away from them, Clint had lunged forwards, grabbing Tony's left overarm.

"Stark, we aren't done with you yet!"

Steve saw how Tony went pale, fear spreading across his face before he had the chance to regain his composure. And Steve wanted to step forward and tell Clint that there was no need to act that way, but he knew that Tony would not listen to him and wait. So perhaps Clint had a better chance.

"I believe that we are, in fact, done with each other." Tony said. His face was a mask of calmness, but his shaking voice betrayed him. "Now, get your hands off of me or I will be forced to contact the Accords Council and inform them that you are here so that they can send a team to help me."

Wanda stepped forwards as well and Steve could already feel how he was losing control of the situation. Everything was beginning to spiral out of control, and he had no idea how to regain it.

"Is that a threat?" Wanda asked, her voice low and dangerous.

"Steve, we need to get out of here now!" Natasha hissed in his ear.

But Steve couldn't just leave Tony behind, not when he so clearly needed their help to get away from the wizard.

As if he wanted to prove how much he had changed since Strange had begun lying to him, Tony just shrugged. "No. But it is me informing you about the consequences it will have if you don't get away from me right now. That way I won't have to listen to you guys blaming me for not having told you that you aren't above the law later."

Wanda let out a growl and Clint let go of Tony's arm, as a stream of crimson began to flow from her hands, forming threads that crept towards Tony. Although Steve knew that Wanda's magic felt horrible when it was used on you, he knew that it might be the only way to make Tony leave with them, so he just hoped that later, after Tony had been treated in Wakanda to get Strange's magic out of his head, Tony would understand why they had felt the need to use Wanda's magic.

The strings of red magic grew in number and size, surrounding Tony in a matter of seconds. The moment the circle around the billionaire was done, it began to shrink, the magic moving closer and closer to him. But Tony just regarded the magic with a look of utter boredom.

The people surrounding Steve's team had seemingly noticed the red strings as well, and Steve heard how they gasped, a few of them even screaming, as they fled back towards the other end of the room to get away from the magic. Steve wanted to speak up and tell them that there was nothing to be afraid of, but he could not afford to not watch Tony closely. Now was the moment that Strange would be the most likely to attempt to attack them and to control Tony again.

The first thread of magic made its move, trying to reach up towards Tony's eyes. But the second it should have made contact, something orange appeared in front of Tony and all of the red mist disappeared into thin air.

"What-" Steve heard Wanda mutter next to him, a few drops of sweat having appeared on her forehead.

But before she had the chance to conjure up her mist again, another orange shield appeared from out of thin air. Only this time, instead of disappearing immediately, it grew in size, the middle of it opening to show the man in the red coat. Strange. The wizard stepped through what Steve realised too late was a portal. Shooting them all an unimpressed look, the wizard walked right past them to instead go over to Tony.

"Are you all right? Have they hurt you?" he asked while reaching out to place a hand on Tony's arm while keeping his voice soft and concerned. Was it not for how Steve already knew him, he might even have been fooled himself.

"No, but I am glad that your little amulet turned out to work," Tony said with a small smile.

Steve hated the way that Tony looked at Strange, the way that he looked at the wizard like he was the light of his world. His stomach felt like he was back in the plane he had crashed into the ocean, as Steve realised that Tony was looking at Strange like he had once looked at Steve. Feeling how the anger and horror rose in him, Steve only then saw that Strange was much more powerful than he had anticipated. He had to be for his spell over Tony to be this convincing, to feel so real.

Strange directed his attention back to Steve's team once more. "So you are the Rogue Avengers. Hmm, I knew that you were fools, but I had thought that you would know better than to come back and attempt to harm Tony."

"We weren't trying to-" Steve began, but he was cut off by Wanda screaming.

He looked at her just in time to see her trust her hands forwards, sending a wall of red magic flying in Strange's direction. Although Steve didn't condone violence, he couldn't help but feel that, right then, it was warranted. There was no other way out. And he would have been lying if he said that he didn't think that Strange deserved it for having messed with Tony's mind.

But the wall never made contact with the wizard. He simply made a movement with his hand and the red mist was suddenly stopped by another orange circle. It remained unmoving in the air for a second before it disappeared. Then Strange looked over at Wanda, and Steve noticed the way the man's face grew dark before he made a series of movements, sending an orange… thing towards Wanda.

It hit her in the head and the girl screamed, looking like she was about to fall over.

"Wanda!" Steve stepped over to put his arm around her.

She held her hands to her head, clearly in pain. It took several seconds before she was able to look up again, but when she did, Steve could see the hatred in her eyes.

"What did you do?!" she yelled, her voice rising an octave halfway through.

But despite of the fact that he had just caused her so much pain, Strange looked like he didn't care at all, merely shrugging. "I bound your magic so that you won't be able to access it anymore."

Steve heard how Clint gasped at the very same time as himself. Even Wanda looked shaken, the hatred in her eyes having been replaced with fear that made Steve remember how she was still so young and how it had been years since the last time she had been without magic. Maybe it had been a mistake to bring her there. She should not have to face this, to feel the horror of having her powers disappear when she needed them the most. No, he should have let her stay back in Wakanda.

"You can't just do that," he pleaded, but it was futile.

"I think you will find that I can, in fact, do that. I am the Sorcerer Supreme and it is up to me to make sure that there isn't anyone out there misusing their magic. Besides, I needed to make sure that she would not harm the Avengers team that is on their way to apprehend you."

"What are you talking about?" Clint spat.

Strange sighed. "You just attacked Tony Stark. That alone would be enough to get you arrested, and you are also wanted fugitives. F.R.I.D.A.Y. made sure that the second Tony was in danger, a message was sent to the Accords Council. From there, it was only a question of them giving the order to a team of Avengers to come and get you. So I would dare the guess that they will be here…" Strange lifted his left arm, pushing back the sleeve to look at an expensive looking watch, "… in about two minutes. If I were you, I would not attempt to run as you are all wearing either Stark tech or Wakandan technology, all if it being tracked by either Tony himself or by Shuri. So even though the Widow was at the very least smart enough to run before Wanda tried to attack Tony and therefore can't be blamed for allowing her to do so, she will still be found."

"What are you talking about?" but when Steve turned around to look at Natasha, he saw that she was no longer there. He looked back at Strange who just smirked at him.

"Yes, she has left you. Wasn't a better friend than that, was she?" with that, he turned towards Tony. "What do you say, Love, are you ready to leave?"

Tony didn't even look at Steve once when he walked over to Strange and took his hand. "Yes."

Strange nodded at him, did another series of hand movements, and a new portal opened in front of them. Through it, Steve was almost sure that he could see the interior of Avengers Tower, the interior of their home. He wanted nothing more than to just be able to walk over there and leave this entire mess behind him.

"Tony, wait!" he yelled and took a step forward, desperate to not let Tony leave with Strange.

But he was too late, the two stepped through the portal, the hole in space closing behind them and leaving Steve, Clint, and Wanda behind, unable to do anything than wait for the team to come and arrest them.

Steve just hoped that they wouldn't turn out to also be controlled by Strange. Then he might get the chance to explain how Tony was not acting like himself, how they had been there to save him.

Despite the panicked look that Clint sent towards him, Steve felt hopeful. He had a plan and soon he would have saved Tony and everything would be back to normal. Hopefully.


	2. Chapter 2

They stepped through the portal, leaving the Rogue Avengers behind along with the noise that came with hosting balls for people who seemed to only be there to try to be heard by as many people as possible.

Thankfully, the Rogues did not attempt to follow them. A part of Tony had been worried that they would try to follow him back to the tower, but - if nothing else - they seemed to have finally understood that they would not be welcomed there, and that, no matter what they would say, Stark Tower was not their home anymore. Or maybe they had simply been taken by surprise and had not had time to follow Tony and Stephen. When it came to the Rogues, Tony didn't really know which of the two were the case and probably never had. But at least he had been able to keep himself somewhat together while talking to them, something that he would have thought to be impossible just a few weeks ago.

He supposed he should feel happy or at least relieved about it. No matter how much he might have enjoyed reading the articles about it, Tony knew that the public would not have appreciated him getting emotional in front of the Rogue Avengers no matter what his reasons were. Perhaps a few people would understand the instinct of just needing to _get away_ , but for the most part, Tony was fairly sure that a breakdown involving the disgraced part of the former Avengers team would only have made even more people argue that Tony was unfit to be involved in the Avengers Programme. And he could not have that happen.

However, now he could feel the price he would have to pay for having been able to suppress his emotions enough to appear cool, calm and collected. Although he had instructed F.R.I.D.A.Y. to keep the tower warm at all times - being stuck in his Iron Man suit in Siberia had been cold and if Tony wasn't cold anymore, he was safe - he was shaking slightly, and, despite desperately trying to convince his brain that it had nothing to do with the sense of unease sitting in his stomach, Tony knew that F.R.I.D.A.Y. was not to blame for his discomfort. But that did not calm him down, not in the slightest. His heart was beating even quicker than it had done when he had fought Whiplash on the race track in Monaco without the Iron Man armour to protect him. How he had even managed to prevent himself from simply running off the second Rogers had stepped over to lead him away from Stephen was a puzzle. But at least he had done it and - with just a bit of luck - it had been enough to convince the great Captain America that Tony really didn't need him anymore. Of course, Tony rarely seemed to have luck on his side, but at least there would be another prison escape between Tony and the next time he would possibly have to see Rogers again.

He really needed to get to work on designing a better way to protect the people around him. If there was even the slightest risk of Peter ever facing Captain America again, Tony would make sure that it would not be without a suit that would be able to withstand anything Captain America could drop into Peter.

"Were they really the old team?" Tony heard Stephen ask, making him look over at the other man. He was looking at Tony with an expression he couldn't really read. Once, Tony would have known for certain that when someone was frowning slightly, angling their head to look down at him, it meant that they were preparing to lecture him on the importance of teamwork or to tell him that he was letting his ego get out of control or that-

No. Tony shook his head. It didn't mean that anymore.

Trying to distract himself, Tony looked towards the kitchen while he spoke. "Yes. You just had the honour of meeting Captain America, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Black Widow. Although, I guess you didn't really get to meet the latter." he tried to form a little laugh but he could hear how hollow it sounded.

There were a couple of used plates left out on the kitchen island along with a glass filled with water. Well, at least the plates had been stacked. They could wait for later - had to wait for later, as Tony could not even imagine finding the energy to worry about putting them away.

"Hmm," Stephen said, "I doubt I missed anything important by not having the pleasure of meeting the Widow."

"Actually, if I have to be completely honest, I would say that Romanoff is the most competent out of all of them," Tony smiled, "I mean, it isn't like she has a lot of competition, but she did have the senses to run off before Maximoff decided to attack me. That way, she wouldn't get that added to all of the other charges against her. Not that it really matters a lot with all of the problems they are already in."

Romanoff simply running away had come as a surprise. Out at the airport, when she had suddenly decided to help Rogers and Barnes get away, Tony had assumed that it had been because of Rogers. The fact that she didn't like Tony all that much was not really a secret so he had thought that switching sides was what she had been planning to do since the beginning. But now it seemed that she had simply miscalculated how the fight was going and that it had simply been a smaller part of her goal of keeping herself alive.

Maybe she really was the most competent of them. At least she had had the sense to leave the team, even if she hadn't done it in time to get an actual chance to avoid being found by the Avengers.

"Tony!" a voice broke the silence, the sudden sound making both Tony and Stephen turn towards the door behind them to see Rhodey entering the room.

He strolled over to them while Tony tried to fight off the impulse to immediately ask about the leg braces. There was no need for the question; Rhodey looked fine, the slightly awkward way of placing one foot in front of the other that had been characteristic for Rhodey the first couple of days after having gotten the braces, long gone. So there really wasn't any reason to ask about it and remind Rhodey how he had gotten dragged into the mess that was the Civil War, as the public had begun to call the way the Avengers had split up over the Sokovia Accords. And from the way he was looking at Tony, brows furrowed, Rhodey was already worrying over something.

So instead, Tony just shot him a smile. It wasn't like the ones he would give reporters, Rhodey would have been able to see through that in an instant, but it was still so unnatural that it felt straining. "Rhodey, I didn't know you would be here."

But Rhodey just continued walking towards him, and before Tony knew of it, Rhodey had wrapped his arms around him, giving him a tight hug.

"Carol got a message from the Accords Council just a couple of minutes ago telling her that the Rogues had come back and that they had found you."

"Whoa, they sent Carol after them. Now, I almost feel bad for those idiots, they won't stand a chance against her," Tony said, letting out an impressed whistle

Rhodey just looked at him with an unimpressed expression. "Of course they won't, it's Carol. But what about you? Are you okay? "

The air around him turned frigid and Tony had to suppress a shiver. Was he ever really okay? How long had he been content just pretending that everything was fine, having to keep it together for just another couple of seconds before he could head into another room to fall to the floor, unable to do anything other than simply hope that he would not die and that the shortness of breath was just yet another effect from the battle of Manhattan? His therapist, a nice woman named Lisa who would let him speak and who actually _listened_ to him when he would finally begin to talk, had said that it was a symptom of anxiety and PTSD. Tony didn't know what to call it and didn't really care either. He only knew that his father would have accused him of being weak and that Steve would have told him to keep it together and man up.

He hoped that Lisa was right about him; he really wanted her to be. That way, maybe he would be able to convince himself that he was not just weak or egoistic.

The right thing to do would be to tell his team and friends about his thoughts and feelings. Tony knew that was the option that Lisa would have suggested him. But Lisa was not there and he was so _tired_.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Although I am sorry that you and Carol's date got cut short."

"Don't be, your safety is more important than a date."

"I wasn't ever in danger." Tony looked over at Stephen for a moment, trying to gauge what his reaction would be, before continuing. "In fact, they seemed to think that they needed to save me from you," he nodded towards Stephen, "and from the Accords Council in general."

But Rhodey just shook his head. "Uh, even disregarding the fact that spending so much time with Rogers and the others was what made you in desperate need of a therapist in the first place, I think I can say for certain that Rogers proved how little he cared about your personal wellbeing when he left you in Siberia. Tony, you were actually in mortal danger."

"And that is not even to mention," Stephen added and Tony shot him a look to try to figure out what he was about to say, "how Maximoff did in fact try to gain control over you again."

It was probably not a good sign, but Tony just felt numb at that revelation. That Maximoff's outburst had not simply been an accident did make a lot of sense after all. The witch hated him and with the rest of the Rogues having seemingly agreed that Tony was the only thing standing between them and being able to move back into the Compound and becoming Avengers again, he doubted that they would have done anything at all to stop her. Feeling betrayed would probably be the normal reaction to that, but that would have required for the news to be a surprise. With how Rogers had been able to stay so calm while Thor had been about to kill Tony and him constantly insisting that Maximoff was still a child, it was not really a surprise that he would not have moved to stop her. Not at all.

However, it seemed that the news had managed to shock Rhodey.

"What?! She did?" walking over to the kitchen island, Rhodey looked down at the little stack of used dishes in front of him. "Please tell me your little magic trick worked," he continued as he went to pick up the stack of plates and began to place them in the dishwasher.

"It is not a 'trick' even though you seem to insist on calling it that," Stephen said, and Tony didn't even have to look over at him to know that he was smirking, "it is a complex spell that had to be bound to a single object Tony would be able to carry with him at all times. Not exactly something I would refer to as a 'trick'."

"Oh, I don't doubt that it took a lot of time and hard work to ensure Tony's safety, and I am relieved that you were there to take care of the situation."

Rhodey shot Tony a looked that was filled with just a little too much worry for his comfort. Rhodey and Stephen abandoning their constant bickering over all things magical to instead worry about his safety was not really something Tony wanted to see. They had enough to worry about already.

So he did what he always did in those situations: he tried to joke it away. "Wow, Platypus, if the professors at MIT could hear you known, not even protesting when this guy here," Tony gestured towards Stephen, who just smiled at him, "claims that he is able to do things that so clearly break the laws of physics."

Barely raising an eyebrow, Rhodey shot back, "if they could hear you so blatantly forget that they also told us that if you are able to repeatedly get observations that contradict a scientific law, then the law is wrong, they would probably give you detention for a year."

"Touché, I didn't think of that."

"Of course you did, you think of everything before it happens. It wouldn't surprise me if you already knew exactly how this conversation would go, the second I stepped into the room."

Had it been anyone but Rhodey who had made that observation, Tony was not sure what would have happened, but he suspected that it would either have ended with him breaking down and crying or simply turning cold and attempt to leave the room.

Because it had hit just a bit too close to home. After all, wasn't thinking about everything what Tony Stark did? Think and think and think until reality itself seemed to change around him. Board meetings became a battle in his mind, the other people around the table turning into people he had to make sure would not harm him like Stane had done. Actual battles became a series of analysis and equations, the answer often being that Tony Stark's death would be an acceptable sacrifice. That had been the case during the battle of Manhattan, when he had decided to go through the portal with a nuke, knowing full well that the chance of him surviving was practically non-existent. Waking up to see the other Avengers, the rest of the team, look down at him, worry written across every feature, had been like being reborn, and he had allowed himself to hope that maybe, just maybe, this was what having a family felt like.

But then it had happened again. Tony had been presumed dead, only this time, his supposed team had not seemed to care at all. When his home had been under attack and Tony had woken up in the snow, he had hoped for them to come help him. But they didn't, and Tony realised why much too late.

Despite all of their talks about camaraderie and friendship, the Avengers had turned out to - much like the rest of the world had always done - only care about Tony Stark, the billionaire, and not actually Tony, the mechanic who loved to hide away in his labs for days on end, trying to create something that could keep the Earth safe from the army he had seen on the other side of the portal. No, they hadn't cared about any of that, only that Tony had the money, the resources, and the contacts that could get them out of trouble and allow them to continue doing whatever they wanted without fear of repercussions.

Really, he should have known that it could never lead to anything other than disaster. But he had been too scared of losing them to allow himself to realise that.

Having the benefit of hindsight, it was laughable how he had once fought tooth and nail to make them like him. That, once, the worst thing Tony could think of in the world, would be to see them dead in front of him and know that he had not done everything he could possibly have done to prevent it.

How that had changed since then. Now his nightmares were filled with visions of Barnes' metal hand killing his mother, Captain America bringing down the shield - the shield that Howard had made - and the vibranium crushing everything that had been hidden away under the armour, while his dreams were about Steve not changing his mind at the last moment and the shield hitting his face instead of the arc reactor in the suit.

Lisa had told him that it was a relatively normal way of reacting to everything that had happened to him, to retreat into his own mind and wish for self-destruction. Typical. Growing up, Tony would have given anything to just be a normal child with parents who loved him, someone who didn't have to be the best at everything he did in the hopes that it would be enough to make his father love him. And here he was, finally having some sort of normalcy in his life, but of course it had to come in the form of him barely being able to keep himself together through an entire day with all the thoughts of disaster flying around in his brain. Just his luck.

"Yeah, perhaps you are right," he managed to say with a forced smile.

Perhaps he really did think of everything, but it just seemed that it was all the bad things that stayed with him.


End file.
